Bushed flexible coupling



Jan. 22, 1929.` 1,700,102

R. A. SMITH BUsHED FLEXIBLE COUPLING Original Filed Sept. 18, 1925 f f 5 l \`1 l\ Z7 1 'v /1 m Patented Jan. 22, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT A. SMITH, OF MAHWAH, NEVI JERSEY, ASSIGN'OR- T0 SMITH &; SERRELL, A COPARTNERSHIP CONSISTING 0F JOHN J. SERRELL AND HIMSELF, OF ELZABETI-I,

NEW JERSEY.

BUSHED FLEXIBLE COUPLING.

Application filed September 1S, 1925, Serial No. 57,1388.

This invention relates especially to bushings for flexible couplings and other' devices whereinit is desirable to bush an aperture o.' hole in the flexible coupling or other part with a bushing which can be easily and cheaply made and applied and removed when necessary. The flexible coupling may be of the usual type wherein two rotary members or flanges are connected to shafts for transmit ting torque and motion between the shafts, and the connecting members between flanges may be any one of a number of connecting elements as for example, rigid steel pins or bolts fastened to one flange and projecting into recesses in the other flange, said recesses being filled with rubber or leather, the recesses being lined outside the rubber or' leather with bushings fastened as hereinafter described, or a floating element may be between the flanges, each flange being connected flexibly to the floating element, or the connecting elements may be onel of the many types of flexible laminated steel pins for example, as shown in my Patent 1,165,551 of December 28, 1915, or in my joint patents with Serrell 1,403,271 and 1,403,272. In this application the connecting members will be shown for eonvenience as the laminated steel pin connectors such as these last three patents mentioned. The use of bushings for these purposes for bushing holes is of course not new, but my method of constructing and fastening the bushing is simpler and less expensive where `a bushing is desired, and will eliminate some H careful or expensive machine work which I propose to avoid. While bushings are usually of a round form, the construction and process applies equally well, when desired, to any other shape of bushing. The hole in the coupling into which it is desired to insert and fasten a bushing has another smaller intersccting hole drilled approximately at right angles to the axis of the hole to be hushed.

On the outer side this smaller intersecting r hole extends to the exterior of the coupling and on the inner side of the hole to be hushed the smaller intersecting hole extends only a small way into the metal of the coupling part. The bushing is made with a matching hole of approximately the same diameter asthe outer portion of the small intersectiiighole. Depending on the thickness of the bushing it may have a drilled portion or hole part way or completely through the diametricallyoppo- Renewed June 16, 1928.

site portion of the bushing which will match up with the inner portion of the intersecting holein the coupling flange member. In this way when the bushing is inserted in the hole in the coupling' flange the intersecting holes in the bushing match up with the intersecting holes in the flange and by inserting a punch, which, when necessary, need be nothing more than a bolt or other rod, through the two outer matching intersecting holes against the metal of the diametrically opposite wall of the bushing this metal of the diametrically opposite wall may be driven into the end of the intersecting hole in the coupling flange and thus and it will be seen that this work is easily done without any special tools in the field and also that it is not necessary to have expensive press flts or collars or screws.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way a number of illustrative embodiments of this invention- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal part section through a flexible coupling showing the flexible connecting members and the bushing in place.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of part of the. coupling flange from the right hand end of Fig. 1 showing the part of the flange before the bushing is applied.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a bushing such as is used to bush the hole in the flange in Figs. 1 and 2.

Figs. 1,5 and 6 show somewhat different style bushings.

Fig. 7 shows the flange as in Fig. 2 with a bushing inserted iii place and ready to punch the metal of the. bushing into the end of the intersecting hole in the flange.

Fig. 8 shows the bushing in place in the hole in the flange after the punch is removed.`

Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing a radial bushing.

Fig. 1() is an end view in part of a ange and bushing.

As shown in Fig. 1 the shaft 1 may, if desired, be connected to shaft 2 through a flexible coupling made up of flanges 8 and 4 keyed to the shafts 1 and 2 in the usual manner. The flanges and 4 may be connected by a number' ol' flexible connecting pins 5 which have as their ends pin keepers G and 7. The keeper may be detachably fastened in flange 3 by spring retaining ring 8, and keeper 6 when desirable is therefore practically fastened without motion in pin hole 9. In the flexible connecting pins 5 as used in connection with a hushed pin coupling the connecting springs 16 are, if desired, eennected substantially without slide by the cross pins 17--17 to the keepers 6 and 7. Keeper 7 is therefore slidably held in pinhole 10 on the inside of bushing 11, and hushing 11 may, if desired, be tightly fixed in the hole 20 in flange 4 by means of the punched in metal 12 of the bushing 11 in the intersecting hole end 13 ot intersecting hole 14 of the flange which matches up approximately with intersecting hole 15 of the bushing 11.

As Shown in Fig. 2, flange 4 may be made with faces 18 and 19 substantially parallel and smooth in a plane perpendicular to the axis. Hole 2O is one of a circumferential series which may, if desired, be drilled and reamed parallel to the axis of flange 4, so that the series of holes 20 provide openings for the connecting pins 5 of Fig. 1 in the usual manner. Through each of the holes 20, which may be hushed when desired, is drilled or otherwise provided. an intersecting hole 14 whichin this ease is shown substantially in radial position, so that the inner end 13 of' the intersecting` hole 14 is diametrically opposite the entrance of intersecting hole 14 in hole 20. It will be seen that the fiange therefore is, provided with an intersecting hole 14 whereby the end 13 of the intersecting hole can be reached either with a drill or punch as desired.

Fig. 3 shows one form of bushing 11 which may be used in the coupling flange 4 shown inv Fi 1. This bushing- 11 maybe of any preferred material, usually of one piece, as for example, steel, bra-ss, bronze, graphited metal, fibre, leather, etc. The pin hole 10 within the bushing 11 is made to the desired fit on the connecting pin, so that the pin will be free to slide within the pin holelO. The intersecting hole 15 as shown in this case is drilled through one side only of the bushing and the position of this intersecting hole 15 is made to approximately match up with the corresponding intersecting hole 14 of the flange as in Figs. 1 and 2. For convenience the intersecting hole 15 in bushing 11 may be made of the same size as the corresponding intersecting hole 14 in the flange of Fig. 2. In some cases it may be desirable to have the intersecting hole 15 either slightly larger or differing from the one shown in FiO'. 3 bv .L CJ u having' the intersecting hole extend across the bushing approximately diainetrically opposite its entrance to have its end 23 partially through the wall 24 of the bushing 2l.

Fig. 5 shows another form of bushinp` 25, preferably of one piece metal, differing rroin the one shown in Fig. 4 by having an end 26 closed as by deep drawing, andit also has the intersecting hole 2T extended across the bushing diametrically opposite its en trance to have its end 28 partially through the wall 29 of the bushing 25.

Fig. 6 shows a bushing 3() which may be otherwise similar to any of those described in the previous figures except that it has the intersecting hole 31 carriedv a little further across the bushing 30 so that the end 32 et the intersecting hole 31 projects slightly through the wall 34 of the bushing 50 to leave an opening 33. lWhere a bushing isinade with a very thick wall, this varying degree of penetration of the wall by the end of the intersecting hole makes it possible to drive out the metal of the wall to form a locking device, such as an integral locking projection on t-he bushing, wit-hout too great a pressure or blew. y

Fig. 7 shows a part section of the coupling flange 4 with a bushing inserted, the bushing in this case being similar to bushing 21 of Fig. 4. This bushing 21 can be pushed or tapped to whatever degree ot tightness is desired into the hole 20 in the hangs. Unless special tightness is desired the bushing 421 need be only a nice slip fit in hele 20. Then in place with the intersecting hole 15 of the bushing approximately matching up with the intersecting hole 14 in the flange, and correspondingly the intersecting hole end 23 in the bushing` matching up with intersecting hole end 13 in the flange, then a punch is inserted by hand or machine operation as desired which punch may have a square or round end 36 as desired to best punch the metal 12 of the bushing. With the punch in this position a pressure or a blow is applied to the punch 35 in the direction indicated by the arrow. After this is done, the punch ma he withdrawn. Y

iig. 8 shows a section of the flange 4 with the bushing 21 in place after the punch has been removed. The punched in metal 12 punched in partly into the intersecting hole end 13 and thus it will be seen that a metal lllfl but-ton or head of punched in inet-al prevents bushing 21 not onlyfrom turning but also from moving endwise in the hole 20. The punching in process can, if desired, be carried to such a degree that the hold will be very tight. With the bushing held in this manner with the intersecting hole and the punched in portion in approximately radial direction, there will be no direct wear of any amount on the punched in portion from the load pressure of' the connecting pins, because the load pressure is tangential and approximately at right angles to the punched in metal button. IVhile the bushing is thus held in a very firm manner, it may be very easily removed either in the factory 0r in the field by inserting through the intersecting holes 14 and 15 a drill approximately the same size as the punch and drilling out the punched in portion of the bushing which may be desired to be removed. The bushing will then be no longer held by the punched in portion 12 and the bushing may be taken out of' the flange. vWhen the old bushing is removed, the flange is then ready for the insertion of a new bushing just as at first.

All the previous figures have shown for convenience the pin holes in the flange parallel to the axis. Fig. 9 shows the adaptation of the same form of bushing 37 applied with the axis of' the bushing in radial direction in a radial hole 38. The intersecting hole 39 in the flange 40 in this case is made approximately parallel to the axis, and the corresponding intersecting hole 41 in the bushing 37 is also parallel to the axis. The end 42 of the intersecting hole in the flange is filled in with the punched in metal 43 of the bushing wall as described for the other ligures.

Fig. 10 shows an end view of part of flange 4 in Fig. 1 with the connecting flexible pin not in place. This end view shows how the bushing 11 is in place in circular pin hole20 andthe punched in metal 12 is projecting into end 13 of the intersecting hole 14.

This invention has been described in connection with a number of illustrative einbodiments, forms, proportions, sizes, materials, numbers and arrangements of parts and methods of manufacture and use, to the details of' which disclosure the invention is, of course, not to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is set forth in the appended claims:

1. In a flexible coupling with flange men bers each having a number of holes parallel to the coupling axis, with the flanges connected by flexible laminated steel pin units with keepers inserted within said holes and said holes in one of the flanges hushed with re-` newable bushings, bushings having an intersecting hole approximately at right angles to the axis of the bushing, each of the bushed holes in said flange having an intersecting hole matching approximately with the intersecting hole of the corresponding bushing, and the bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole extended into the end of the matching intersecting hole in the flange to form an integral rctaining portion, to firmly and rcnewably hold the bushing from coming out ofthe hole in the flange. c

2. In a flexible coupling with flange niembers having a number of renewably bushed holes parallel to the coupling axis, with the flanges connected by flexible laminated steel pin units inserted within said holes, bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of the bushed holes in said flange having an intersecting hole matching approximately with the intersecting hole of the correspon/cling bushing, and the bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole swelled into the-end of the matching intersecting hole in the flange to form an integral holding portion.

3. In a flexible coupling -iaving rotatable members having a number of renewably bushed holes parallel to the coupling axis, with the members connected by flexible laminated steel vpin units inserted within said holes, bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of the hushed holes in said 'member having an intersecting hole matching approximately with the intersecting hole of the corresponding bushing, and the bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersect- `ing hole swelled into-the end of the matching intersecting hole in the member to 'form an integral retaining portion, toy firmly and renewably hold the bushing from coming out of the hole in the member.

4. In a flexible coupling with flange members having a number of renewably bushed holes parallel to the coupling axis, with means for flexibly connecting the flanges, bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of the hushed holes in said flange having an intersecting hole matching approximately with the intersect.- ing hole of the corresponding bushing, and the bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole swelled into the end of the matching intersecting hole in the flange to form an integral retaining portion.

5. In a flexible coupling having rotatable members having a number of renewably bushed holes parallel to the coupling axis, with means for flexibly connecting the menibers, bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of the bushed holes in said member having` an intersecting'hole matching approximately with the intersecting hole of the corresponding bushing, andthe bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersectlll) lill) ing hole swelled into the end of the matehing intersecting hole in the member to form an integral holding portion.

G. In a flexible coupling having rotatable members having a number of renewahly hushed holes, with means for flexibly connectingv the members, bushings having an intersecting hele at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of' the hushed holes in said member having an intersecting hole matching approximately with the intersecting hole of the corresponding bushing, and the bushing wall approximately opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole swelled into the end of the matching intersecting hole in the meinber to form an integral retaining portion.

7. ln a flexible coupling having rotatable members having a number of renewably bushed holes, with means for flexibly eonneeting the members, bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle to the axis of the bushing, each of the hushed holes in said member having an intersecting hole matching" approximately with the intersecting hole of the corresponding bushing and said bushings each having an .integral swelled portion opposite the entrance of' the intersecting hole.

S. In a. flexible coupling` having rotatable members with means for flexiblivv connecting the members7 holes in the members hushed with bushings, said bushings having an intersecting hole at an angle te the axis of the bushing .and said bushings each having an integral swelled portion opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole.

9. In a flexible coupling having rotatable members with means for flexibly connecting the members, holes in the members hushed with bushings, `said holes having an intersecting hole at an angle to said hole in the member and said bushings each having an integral swelled portion opposite the entrance of the intersecting hole.

ROBERT A. SMITH. 

